Difference between revisions of "Installing Arch Linux on a ThinkPad X40"

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= Wireless =
 
= Wireless =
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 +
== Atheros-based ==
  
 
My main concern was getting the WIFI to work. As the downloaded ISO also
 
My main concern was getting the WIFI to work. As the downloaded ISO also
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After banging ath5k, the wireless card shows up as ath0. Associating works,
 
After banging ath5k, the wireless card shows up as ath0. Associating works,
 
DHCP doesn't time out. :)
 
DHCP doesn't time out. :)
 +
 +
== Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG  ==
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 +
dmesg should mention the ipw2200 card was detected. To get this running, you will need to do
 +
 +
  {{cmdroot|pacman -S ipw2200-fw}}
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 +
and add ipw2200 to the MODULES variable in your /etc/rc.conf. Reboot to get the module initialized.
  
 
= Power Management =
 
= Power Management =
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But suspending seems to work even without this.
 
But suspending seems to work even without this.
  
−
The backlight wasn't working when resuming from suspend, but the following fixed it [http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=61558]:  
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If the backlight is not working when resuming from suspend, the following might fix it [http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=61558]:  
  
 
   #!/bin/bash                                                                     
 
   #!/bin/bash                                                                     
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The drive assigned is the swap partition. The swap partition should be at least big enough to hold your RAM data.
 
The drive assigned is the swap partition. The swap partition should be at least big enough to hold your RAM data.
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 +
I also needed to add the ''resume'' hook to the file {{path|/etc/mkinitcpio.conf}} [http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=718892]. Then recompile the kernel:
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  mkinitcpio -p kernel26
  
 
=== Enable suspend/hibernate buttons ===
 
=== Enable suspend/hibernate buttons ===
  
−
To get the suspend keycombo (fn+f4 and fn+f12) to work, I installed xbindkeys:
+
To get the suspend keycombo (fn+f4 and fn+f12) to work, install xbindkeys:
  
 
   {{cmdroot|pacman -S xbindkeys}}
 
   {{cmdroot|pacman -S xbindkeys}}
  
−
And placed the following in ~/.xbindkeysrc
+
And place the following in ~/.xbindkeysrc
  
 
   "sudo pm-suspend"
 
   "sudo pm-suspend"
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   c:165
 
   c:165
 
    
 
    
 +
The keycode you can find out by running ''xev'' and looking for the appropriate keycode.
  
−
The keycode I found out running ''xev'' and looking for the appropriate keycode.
+
Adding {{path|xbindkeys}} to a startup script of your windowmanager makesthe keys active. As the name suggests, xbindkeys only works in X.
  
 
= Xorg =
 
= Xorg =
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= Postface =
 
= Postface =
  
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Don't forget to run:
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Don't forget to run [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA]
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#[http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=61558]
 
 
   {{cmdroot|alsaconf}}
 
   {{cmdroot|alsaconf}}
  

Latest revision as of 22:04, 3 July 2010

Some notes to get Arch Linux running on a Thinkpad X40.

TODO
Not fnished yet. I'm documenting the installation process as it goes

Preface

I downloaded the FTP installation CD on http://www.archlinux.org/

Wireless

Atheros-based

My main concern was getting the WIFI to work. As the downloaded ISO also functions as a livecd, I tried to get it up and running with that. Without success. I found the answer to my question here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=482359

I installed madwifi and madwifi-utils. In the modules section of /etc/rc.conf I banged the ath5k module, disabling it. With ath5k not banged the card showed up as wlan0, associated correctly with the AP, but didn't get a DHCP lease. Even with manually setting the IP and adding the default route, I couldn't ping the AP.

After banging ath5k, the wireless card shows up as ath0. Associating works, DHCP doesn't time out. :)

Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG

dmesg should mention the ipw2200 card was detected. To get this running, you will need to do 

 # pacman -S ipw2200-fw

and add ipw2200 to the MODULES variable in your /etc/rc.conf. Reboot to get the module initialized.

Power Management

The two most important factors of a mobile device are battery life and weight. I'm always a bit disgrunted when an advertisement doesn't mention one or either.

Without any powersaving installations the 8cell battery still managed for a nice 4 hours.

CPU Frequency Scaling

CPU Frequency Scaling is a technology primarily for notebooks that enables the OS to scale the CPU speed to system and/or power use.

I simply followed the following instructions: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cpufrequtils

Suspend

I tried pm-utils. 2 

 # pacman -S pm-utils

Add acpi_sleep=s3_bios to the file /boot/grub/menu.lst as kernel option.

I added following modules to the /etc/pm/config.d/config file in the order they are dependant of eachother. The last ones depend on the first modules. 

 SUSPEND_MODULES="wlan_wep wlan_scan_sta ath_rate_sample ath_pci wlan ath_hal"

But suspending seems to work even without this.

If the backlight is not working when resuming from suspend, the following might fix it [1]: 

 #!/bin/bash                                                                     
 case $1 in
   suspend)
       ;;
   resume)
       chvt 1
       vbetool post &
       sleep 1
       kill $!
       chvt 7
   ;;
 esac

Put the script in /etc/pm/sleep.d/. The changing of the virtual terminals with chvt is used to avoid a garbled screen after invoking vbetool in X.

Hibernate

To hibernate, you can simply use pm-utils too. It provides the pm-hibernate program. Only add the resume drive to the kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst: 

 resume=/dev/sda2

The drive assigned is the swap partition. The swap partition should be at least big enough to hold your RAM data.

I also needed to add the resume hook to the file /etc/mkinitcpio.conf [2]. Then recompile the kernel: 

 mkinitcpio -p kernel26

Enable suspend/hibernate buttons

To get the suspend keycombo (fn+f4 and fn+f12) to work, install xbindkeys: 

 # pacman -S xbindkeys

And place the following in ~/.xbindkeysrc 

 "sudo pm-suspend"
 c:223
 "sudo pm-hibernate"
 c:165

The keycode you can find out by running xev and looking for the appropriate keycode.

Adding xbindkeys to a startup script of your windowmanager makesthe keys active. As the name suggests, xbindkeys only works in X.

Xorg

Installed xorg with 

   # pacman -S xorg

Then generated the xorg.cong file with 

   # hwd -xa

(I know, risky ;))

Looked good, but X didn't start with this (couldn't find display). I installed the xf86-video-intel and changed the display driver from i810 to intel in /etc/X11/xorg.conf: 

   Section "Device"
           Identifier  "Card0"
           Driver      "intel"
           VendorName  "All"
           BoardName   "All"
   EndSection


Getting the back/forward special keys to work

Add the following to your ~/.Xmodmap 1 

   keycode 77 = Num_Lock
   keycode 234 = XF86Back
   keycode 233 = XF86Forward

Enabling scrolling with middle mouse button

Add the following to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, to the PS/2 mouse section 1 

   Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
   Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

Postface

Don't forget to run [3] 

 # alsaconf

to get the sound to work properly.

FOOTNOTES [Δ]
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